Keep Up to Date on Microsoft SharePoint Cumulative Updates

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Updates are everyone’s favorite topic, and I just wanted to throw out a few good resources on how to keep up to date on the updates that Microsoft released for SharePoint 2010 and WSS 3.0 / MOSS 2007.

The Updates RSS Feed

First and foremost, to keep up to date on SharePoint updates, you need to subscribe to the updates RSS feed! These posts provide links to the KB articles and downloads for the various configurations (Microsoft Office, SharePoint Foundation, Server, Server with Project Server, Office Web Apps, FAST Search, etc.). Notice that this feed includes all Office products, not JUST SharePoint. Unfortunately Microsoft doesn’t publish an update feed just for SharePoint that I know of. Also, Stefan Gobner, a Senior Escalation Engineer with Microsoft support, does a bang up job also posting SharePoint CU releases on his blog, as well as when issues come up. Links:

Regression Tracking

Updates never break anything right? Of course they don’t, they are tested for months before Microsoft releases them! Ok you got me, I’m kidding, but regressions happen all the time, and the question always is “do I need to apply this CU? Will it break my servers?” That’s a tough question. NEVER apply an un-tested update in your production SharePoint farm (at least without 3 different backups if you have no development environment). But in general, only apply the updates that fix a problem you are experiencing. There are other times if you are really behind, and need to step up a service pack or something.

Unfortunately Microsoft doesn’t post (at least public) a tally of issues with an cumulative update. However, enter the SharePoint community to the rescue. There are bloggers out there that post issues, so it’s always worth a shot to do some quick searching. You never know! But luckily our friendly neighborhood recently renewed SharePoint MVP and recent e-book published author Todd Klindt keeps track of known regressions for CUs on his blog. He already has a page up for the latest June 2012 CU. The last CUs I know had issues were the December 2011 CU, and the April 2012 CU (had to be pulled and re-released). Links: